A jury at the trial of a Prestatyn woman, accused of deliberately starting a fire which killed five members of a family, has been told to set aside all emotion and to consider the evidence against her.

The judge at Mold Crown Court, Mr Justice John Griffith-Williams, is summing up at the end of the three-week trial.

"You must consider it objectively and dispassionately and above all, apply common sense", he told the jury.

Melanie Smith, 43, denies five counts of murder and one charge of making threats to cause harm by fire, and the trial continues.

Lee-Anna Shiers, her partner Charlie Timbrell, their 15-month-old son Charlie, and her nephew Bailey Allen, 4, and niece Skye Allen, 2, died in the blaze last October.

Melanie Smith denies five charges of murder and one of making threats to cause harm by fire. Credit: ITV News

The cross-examination of Melanie Smith's evidence has begun at Mold Crown Court.

Ian Murphy QC, prosecuting, said the defendant was "unhappy" in her flat and "many things were troubling" her on the night of the fire.

"The reason you were unhappy in that flat wasn't the flat itself but the conduct of Lee-Anna Shiers," said Mr Murphy. He said it is alleged the defendant complained to her landlord that Miss Shiers was "dirty" and "scruffy" on the day she died.

The jury has heard that, at the time of the fire, Jay Liptrot, the property owner, had given Miss Smith notice to evict the flat in two days' time. "I think you blamed Lee-Anna Shiers for the predicament you found yourself in. You were very soon going to be homeless," said Mr Murphy.

When asked by her counsel if she had set her neighbour's pushchair on fire, the 43-year-old said she had not. Stephen Riorden QC, defending, asked her: "In all your years have you ever set fire to something maliciously?" The defendant answered that she never had.

Upon being arrested on suspicion of murder the day after the fire, Miss Smith said: "I couldn't believe it. I was just mortified. I was absolutely devastated. I didn't know what was going on."

Five members of the same family died in the fire in Prestatyn in October.

Mold Crown Court has heard police interview transcripts with the woman accused of starting a fire in Prestatyn which killed five members of a family in which she admitted she had threatened to "get" her neighbour Lee-Anna Shiers on several occasions.

The jury heard Melanie Smith told police she had woken the night of the fire when she saw black smoke coming into her bedroom.

"I panicked," she told police. She said she escaped her own flat through her bedroom window and screamed to her boyfriend to get out as well, the court heard.

When police put an accusation by Liam Timbrell that she started the fire, she said: "God love him, but how do we know it was started on purpose? I don't know why he said it and it's upsetting to hear it...I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy. I got kids of my own."

When questioned about her relationship with her neighbour Lee-Anna Shiers, Melanie Smith told police they had "not got on" all the time, but that they'd "patched things up" between the pair recently.